> Agreed. There is a mechanism for this already (in case you haven't found it):> check out warp_clock() in kernel/time.c. My tiny ktzset package> (ftp://ftp.lst.de/pub/LST/misc/) seeks this routine explicitly without> interfering with kernel<->RTC r/w precision. I wouldn't mind if there was a> sysctl for this.>

> Back to Philip's suggestion. I feel it's good as long as some points are> satisfied:> > 1. "minuteswest" suggests the proper granularity -- there exist> 15-minute-timezones on this planet.> > 2. the sysctl must co-exist with the warp_clock()-hack for obvious > backward compatibility (we have a few users out there...)> > 3. a reasonable representation for "unknown" must be found. -1 won't do,> because it's obviously a valid "minuteswest" value.> > I would suggest two variables: a numeric "minuteswest" value and an> "rtc_timezone" enum for {utc=0, localtime=1, unknown=-1}.> > Keep in mind that there is another reason for kernel timezone information:> some sick so-called filesystems record mtime in localtime (FAT, HPFS, ...?).

Does anybody want to work on that? I foresee that I'll be short of time soon...